Mallard Factory (1 Viewer)

As part of a duck-friendly development within a soon-to-be wetland area of the pond, we installed a couple of nesting tubes (aka; Mallard factories).
Last December, we installed the eight 4 x 4 posts for houses and nesting structure. Four of them were used for the wood duck nesting boxes. I originally planned to install the bat house on one post, but I have scrapped that installation plan for fear that the post will not be strong enough to support the structure (it will be installed in the building pad area a little later this spring). This leaves four unused posts in the wetland area.
Have ya ever heard of Mallard factories? I hadn't...'til now. I got the plans and inspiration from the Delta Waterfowl website .
I cut a pc of old green treated 2 x 6 to 30" long and drilled a 1/2" hole in the center to lag it to the top of the 4 x 4 post in the pond. A couple of 1/4" holes were drilled at each end of this 2 x 6 to secure the 1/4" x 1.500" circular bar stock brackets I fab'd.
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We pre-fab'd the actual nest tube in the garage at home. It is made out of one pc of galvanized hardware cloth, 1/2" squares, 36" wide x 7 feet long. See the website link above for details of construction. We are fortunate to have good friends in Jackie and Rebecca. They operate a fairly substantial farm around the corner and donated the straw and hay required to complete the nesting tubes. The tube is wired to the brackets securely with stainless steel wire.

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Flip up the hinged section and install the stainless bolt pin and tighten 'er up. A few sheet metal screws and a couple of stainless support lags and the predator guard is in place.

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Two Mallard Factories later...

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The water level in the above pic has another 2-1/2 feet to go to get to normal pool. It will be just short of the bottom of the predator guards. I have to get back in there with the chain saw before it gets alot higher. There are a couple of scrubby trees that are too close to the nesting structures. It is also possible that we have too much nesting structure too close together. We will allow this set-up to play thru this year and adjust accordingly.

i'm confused how do they use it?

Hey Amkid247....
It helps to visualize the construction of the tube. Don't read alot into it...it's pretty dang basic.
Start with a pc of galvanized hardware cloth. I used the stuff that is 1/2" spacing between wires. I bought a roll of it that is 3' wide. I unrolled 7 linear ft of it to yield a pc 3' x 7'. From one end, re-roll it so the end meets back at a point 3' away from the same end. This creates a tube about 12" dia. Twist a couple pc of wires at this junction. Now, the last 4' that continues away from this first tube is layered with a 2" - 3" thick straw mat. Continue rolling the hardware cloth to the very end. This last 4' of hardware cloth will encompass the original 12" dia tube, sandwiching the mat of straw completely around it. Wire the end back to the tube. Mount the tube horizontally. Use a grassy hay (straw is too coarse) and fill the bottom third to half of the tube. This creates the actual nesting material that the duck will rearrange to suit. Voila...a mallard factory. The wire hardware cloth binds the straw and hay well within it's grid. The chances of any large amount blowing out is eliminated.